Australia - part 1

03.02.2005 - 21.02.2005

Australia: Perth, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Fremantle



This long trip starts with a very long flight from Oslo, through Frankfurt, Singapore, and at last to Perth. In Singapore we had some waiting time so we stepped out into the garden with lot's of sunflowers and humid warm air (oh ya jet fumes) for some relief before we head off for for the west of Australia, Perth. It was great to finally get there, so we made our way from the airport to Governor Robinson, a type of higher end backpacker's place with wooden floors and our own room, here we could make our own food or take a short walk to the nearest eatery. We spent a couple of days in Perth going to the beach (where I got sunburned on my ankles, silly boy!), shopping and recovering from the long journey.

After a brief stay in Perth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth,_Western_Australia) we flew north over the rugged west coast. Once we left the city limits of Perth we only saw the beautiful wild and unforgiving country side which stretched for miles. We saw many small towns and wondered how they survived, we also saw the beautiful western coast line that went on for miles with it's fantastic colours. After a short stop we soon landed at Exmouth, it was hot, really hot so we all got into a van for a 20 minute ride into town. We later found out that Exmouth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exmouth,_Western_Australia is one of the sunniest places on the planet and thus has a solar observatory located near by. We arrived at the motel and found out that it was too hot to go out, so we only took a short walk to the dive shop to arrange for our diving the next day. In the evening, when it cooled down a bit we went for a walk and soon met the wild life (no not the locals they do not walk around a lot like crazy tourists), as walked we met Emus, kangaroos and other strange things (we did find the locals they were in the pub like sensible people).



We started diving the next day and on the boat ride out we were met by dolphins and turtles as we sailed out to the dive site, Exmouth bay is beautiful bay with small sandy islands (where turtles lay their eggs), blue and green water (some areas are very shallow) and gentle breezes to take some of the heat off. We dived with Exmouth dive centre and with our always cheerful and helpful captain, we visited the following sites: Gullivers, Blizzard Ridge (Note: when they say wall dive it's not a traditional wall that goes down 30, 40 meters plus it's more like a rocky ridge), Cod spot, Fraggle Rock, the Labyrinth, The Spit, Maze and Navy Pier.



Navy Pier was one of the most fantastic and creature rich dive I have been on, you need a permit to dive there as it is a active navy refueling station, you dive off the end of the pier and the magic begins. You are met by school of snappers, travelly, and barracuda and then at 13 meters you find the bottom and the fun begins; white tip sharks, wobbegong sharks, moray eels, crocodile fish, octopus, toad frogfish and loads of nudibranch and flatworms. The visibility was great and it took a lot of time to look around as there is lot's of old building material laying around and serves as good camouflage and protection. We really wanted and had planned to do this dive again but to our embarrassment we had forgotten about the tides and had missed the dive and sadly the next day we would be leaving. We did try the swimming pool once but soon found out that it was like swimming in a hot tub, but the locals liked it.



One day we decided to have a better look around and find out a bit more about the area so we took a tour which brought us up the cape range to see the lay of the land and find out what lives there. The Cape Range National Park http://www.exmouthwa.com.au/pages/cape-range-national-park covers a large area of land near Exmouth along the western side of the North West Cape. Cape Range is a massive limestone range that has been eroded of time. Cape Range National Park is beautiful with spectacular deep gorges, ridges, gullies and extensive caves. We travelled along the Charles Knife Road exploring the Thomas Carter Lookout with it's magnificent views of the deep gorges, across rolling plains and out to the splendid blue green waters of the Gulf of Exmouth beyond. While driving around there were such things as bustards, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, lizards, wild goats and besides the animals there were large termite mound all around. On the Coral Bay side, at the end of the road around the cape is Yardie Creek. A lagoon filled by very high tides that cross the sand bar at its mouth, the gorge of Yardie Creek. We travelled by boat to the end to see if we could see any black-footed rock wallabies or other birds or animals that are around. Yardie Creek is a beautiful and very peaceful place where you could spend hours listening to the wind and the sounds of nature. The trip was very interesting and we met some nice people, with our last stop at the lighthouse at the tip of the cape we headed back to Exmouth.



We took a 2 hour bus ride to the other side of the cape to a small place called Coral Bay, with blue blue water, large sand dunes, a lot cooler that Exmouth. The reason for it being as much ten degrees cooler on the Coral Bay side is a ridge on the centre of the cape that somehow keeps the weather cooler on one side while the other stays very hot. We stayed at a upscale backpacker's place that had nice rooms and a pool and it was close to a restaurant, a dive shop and the beach (Basicially what we need). When not diving we spent time on the beach, climbed the sand dunes, took walks along the shore and watched the baby black tip sharks (sometimes up to 15 of them). The diving was OK but we could not go to a lot of the best sites due to strong winds and that the larger boat was being serviced, which left us with a small rubber boat. Here we dived; The Canyon, Big Blue, Lottie's Lagoon, and Black Douglas Rock. The diving was interesting but limited, but we saw; grey reef shark cleaning station, octopus, cuttlefish, barracuda, nudibranch and flatworms, huge queensland groupers ( 1 1/2 meter long). Our activity before leaving was what we call a manta chase, this is where a spotter plane finds the manta rays, tells us where they are and we haul ass in our rubber boat and when we get there we jump in with a mask and snorkel and watch the mantas. It was a lot of work, out of the boat swim swim swim, into the boat and do it all again, we did however see 3 manta rays, an eagle ray and 5 turtles.

Flying back to Perth we once again stayed at the Governor Robinson, first thing to do is go to Fremantle which we heard was suppose to be very nice and it was with lots of small shops, restaurants and a local market that was open on the day we were there. We did some shopping and walked around to get the feel of the place and found a very relaxed and easy place to like. Taking the tram we headed back to Perth and enjoyed a good meal out before we tested the local pub (having lived in Australia for four years and have been to many pubs find most of them relaxed and friendly, a nice place to be). Relaxed after a good meal it was time to sit around and chat and watch the world go by.



The next day we hopped on a wine tour to check out what there is in the area, the bus took us through the green rolling hills spotted with ranches and vineyards to taste their various wines (some where very good) and have a look around their wine production area. We had a fun group with people form other parts of Australia and other parts of the world. I really liked the places where you can come back and fill up the bottles again and again for a little less cash, as we drove on we also stopped at a chocolate factory and a local market with ecological food and wine. The lunch stop was great, we ate at a low building that looked like a ranch but was actually a vineyard and restaurant with tall trees to shade the outdoor eating area. Our meal came on wooden platters filled with fresh baked bread, salads, cheese, and cold cuts, and it was very good and very filling, all good things come to an end and it was time to move on. Our last stop was at a local hotel with a long history and it was haunted as well! We found no ghosts there at the time but the hotel was very pretty and the history of the area and the area was very interesting.

Egypt: Sharm El Sheikh

10.09.2004 - 17.09.2004



We felt it was time to get back in the water again and also to get ready for our next adventure so we decided on a quick trip to
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. We stayed on the cliff this time with a nice view out over the Red Sea and travelled by taxi to Nama Bay for our evening meals, Camel bar, and walks. We dived with Camel Dive as they have been good in the past. We had to do our check dive as always, this time at Ras Katy, the is a nice easy dive with lot's to see and is often used used for night dives. Once again we enjoy the warm desert air, warm clear waters and the dramatic desert land scape and decided just to dive this time with no excursion into the desert. We dived with my old advanced teacher, and dived the these site: Jackson reef, Gordon, Ras Nasrani,
2x Ras Mohammad (Yolanda reef and Ras G Hazlami), and The Tower. Here is list of some of the things we saw: A leopard shark, turtles, giant moray eel, Napolean wrasse, lionfish, scorpionfish, a few nudibranch, blue spotted stingray, and giant triggerfish. All too quickly this ends but in Febuary we will off on a new adventure. Happy diving!!

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore - part 3

03.03.2004 - 28.04.2004

Malaysia: Kuantan, Perhentian islands, Kota Bahru, Penang, Merang, Redang, Kuala Terangganu.
Thailand: Hat Yai, Ko Lanta, Bangkok




We once more took the ferry to the main land and travelled north to Kuantan where we took a break and spent the night. I got a very short hair cut LOL not what I wanted and not the best misunderstanding I have had. We continued our trip to the Perhentian islands where I would spend a month doing my rescue diver and later Dive master training at Watercolours. We hit the tail end of the monsoon season so my first days of training were a bit rough but I soon got into the rhythm of eating, reading and dive training. As time went by Jorunn was getting very bored, to say the least, even with fun diving and nudibranch searching almost every day. Here Jorunn had time to learn the latin names for a lot of species of nudibranch, the favorite is of course her name frind Jorunna Funebris. Eventually help arrived so Jorunn hopped on a bus to Penang to meet her sister and some friends for a few days of sightseeing in Penang after so many days on an island. They came back to the Perhentians after a few days and things were grand, I spent my time with my training while the others enjoyed paradise. Sigi learned about snorkeling and nudibranchs, Rune got into diving and the rest just chilled in the sun and explored the island. We always met up for afternoon fresh fruit and a recap of the day's events. They also brought along tax-free stuff to celebrate my Dive Master certificate. After some days our friends left and I finished my Dive Master so it was time to pack up and move on again.



Heading south to Merang we caught a ferry out to Redang to check out the diving there and found out that as it was a local holiday it was very crowded. We had also learned before we got there that you have to choose prebooked packages to stay there. We stayed in an OK room (this is where my second pair of sandals went missing) and had a buffet meals with the hungry hoards (the race for food) that were waiting for the food to arrive. We spent our days diving, which was OK but we saw pretty much the same things as in the Perhentian islands. We dived sites like: Sharons Stone, Big Sea Mount, Mak Cantik, Terumba Kili, Tanjung Tokong, North Run and Mini Sea mount. We also did some snorkelling but had to laugh when we were watching 40 or so bright orange lifejackets bobbing around in the water (not everybody swims that well). The funniest of all were the ones who were trying to dive down and would pop up like a cork and could not understand why, and the worst one of all tried several times to pull himself down an anchor chain and would eventually pop right up again. For us it was time to find a new pair of sandals after the second pair disappeared.



We headed south once again to the city of Kuala Terangganu to get on a small motorboat out to the island of Tenggol where there was a small dive resort with nice rooms and food included, this all had to be pre-booked as well as the diving. This was a very beautiful and green place, underwater there were long sloping walls with large boulders lying around but not many fish. Not that there were no fish, it's just that it has been overfished (even though Tenggol is a Marine park we saw fish traps all over the place). The house reef was really good with a small wreck and lot's of things to see like: Nudibrand, twinspotted blenny, napoleon wrasse, humphead parrotfish, barracuda, green turtle and more. After our 6 guided dives we were left to our own device and soon became dive guides for the other divers on the island for the last dives. We dived the following sites on Tenggol: Tokong Timur, Moonraker, Tokong Laut and more. I guess the funniest thing was the name of the boat that transported us to the dive sites, it was called "Titanic" and yes it did always feel like we were going to sink but we made it back every time. One last thing, on the day we were to depart we found out that the boat man had forgotten the boat too close to shore and the boat was sitting high and dry, so we had to wait for the tide to come in (one hour or so later) before we could leave, then halfway to shore the motor quits, eventually we made it to shore and could move on again.



This time we headed north for the border through Kota Bahru and Hat Yai for the night then on to Trang, to switch minivans and to Ko Lanta where we found a great place to stay on the beach which suited us perfectly. In Ko Lanta we dived with Lanta Divers which is a German run outfit and very professional and serviceminded. We did some long and beautiful dives here and went to sites like: Koh Ha 1, 3, 4, Koh Ha Yai, Hin Daeng and Hin Maung a couple of times as it was manta ray time. Koh Ha was new to us and was a great adventure with an underwater cathedral to dive up into and creatures everywhere, the dives seemed to go on for ages. The days on the boat were fantastic with good company and discussions of what we saw such as: 3 to 4 manta rays, turtles, leopard sharks, moray eels, octopus, mantis shrimp, seahorses, shrimps, crabs, nudibranches and many more. After fabulous days on the beach, good food and romantic sunsets it was time to move as the rainy season would soon be upon us.

We packed up and returned to the place we started diving on this trip, Khao Lak. This time we were there for the wreck diving, which is little known but very good, we first did two dives on the Bang Sak, which at first did not look very inviting but after descending next to a sleeping leopard shark things started happening: loads of nudibranch, clouds of snappers, ghostpipefish, lot's of lionfish, shrimps, barracuda, scorpionfish. The next day we tried another wreck further south called the Thai Muang with the same the result and just as many creature to see, fantastic is all I could say. By now the rainy season was starting so it was time to head home but first a short stop in Bangkok and a bit of luxury.



We had nice hotel that was very comfortable and not very far from the monorail, our method of transport would be by the Chao Phraya river as it slices through the city and offers a less hectic method of transport to get to the parts of the city we wanted to see. After a good nights sleep and a swim in the pool we headed off for some sightseeing as we would soon be heading home. We took the monorail to the ferry and up the Chao Phraya river which was a beehive of activity with boats of all shapes and sizes moving back and forth on their daily business of survival. When on the water you got the distinct smell of humidity, waste, rot and pollution. When we got to our stop we had to walk between many wooden houses that line the river where you would also find small markets with a fantastic variety of fruits and vegetables, red, pink, greens, almost like a rainbow. We finally made it to Wat Phra Kaew as we entered the first thing we had to do was put on respectable clothing, as shorts and a t-shirt just did not cut it. With our borrowed clothing we walked into the temple. At every turn beauty and complexity become apparent and we saw the aw and excitement of the people around us as the temple soars to the sky with beautiful detail, the paints and sculpture are amazing and soon we come to the Jade Buddha in all it's splendor to top things off. We soon became weary in all this beauty so it was time to move on to Wat Pho (the sleeping Buddha) where a very large Buddha reclines covered in golden leaf from head to toe (one of the largest in the world), the temple is also known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage. Next stop was across the river to the Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn), reaching high into the sky to meet the dawn, covered in pieces of broken Chinese porcelain and glass. We soon left Wat Arun to seek relief from the heat and seek some nourishment before we headed off into the night for a meal and to enjoy the city's night life. We took a Tuk Tuk to Khao San Road which is a backpacker and shopping area, we sat down at a restaurant with a view of the night and the strange happening when you mix shopping, bar, nightclubs and loads of backpackers. In all it was a great night full of free entertainment and my fourth pair of sandals, before heading back to the hotel packing before our flight home. What a great trip !

Pictures from Malaysia

Pictures from Thailand

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore - part 2

07.02.2004 - 03.03.2004
Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Sipadan, Mabul, Tawau, Tioman island
Singapore


We landed in Kota Kinabalu on the Island of Borneo where we were met by a very friendly hotel owner who drove us to the hotel and introduced us to the city. We ventured out in the city and later out to one of the small islands on the coast. It was a pretty little island with lots of tourists, we went snorkelling and later had lunch, then walked around a bit and were surprised to find monitor lizards and monkeys. (the Japanese tourists were very impressed with the monkeys until they started having sex! then all you heard was "bad monkey", what a laugh)

As we had a very early morning flight we got a cloud-free look at mount Kota Kinabalu, where many visitors spend their time, it was an amazing and breathtaking sight with beautiful colours from the early morning sun. With the veiw inprinted on our memory we headed off to Tawau. From Tawau we went by bus to Sempora and then by speedboat to Sipadan (Borneo Divers). This was lucky as the the island was closed for hotel guests a while later, and only the military guys were allowed to stayed there. We had a nice room right on the beach that only leaked when it rained a lot, which it did a couple of times but we had sun as well. Let me tell you this was no ordinary diving it was spectacular, loads of turtles and sharks (black-tip and white-tip), large schools of big-eyed trevally and barracuda, humphead parrotfish, leaf fish and much, much more. As our dive guide always seemed to race off we were left to ourselves and were soon joined by several other divers who stayed with us and enjoyed the relaxed diving and the fantastic sights.




One day on Mid reef we fell well behind, as usual, and as we came off the drop off we look behind us and to our amazement there were 6 HAMMERHEADS off the point, soon they disappeared into the deep and we swam off in a dazed excitement. When we finally caught up to the others and wrote a message to the dive master he was shocked and disappointed at what they had missed. One sunny day we were called out to the waters edge for a special event, baby turtles have hatched and were ready to be set free for their own adventures in the wild, so once released they raced off into the surf hoping one day to return and lay eggs (only the female ones, of course). After dive sites like: drop off, barracuda point, south point, hanging garden, mid reef, turtle patch and much much more we were off for short ride to Mabul where we would be staying for a week. (NOTE do not lay down in the sand at Siadan as there are sand flies!)




Mabul is a bigger island with a permanent population of a few hundred people and several dive resorts, and is a very different type of diving, muck diving. Here we searched around in the rocks, in the sand and other things laying around for small things such as ghostpipe fish, frogfish, nudibranch, different types of crabs and shrimp, seahorses, humphead parrotfish, turtles. We also found Elvis, a very large giant Moray eel living in some old junk under an old oil platform (Sea Venture). This was a very nice place to stay with good food, really nice rooms and some nightly entertainment, which was very funny as the male waiters dressed up for the miss Borneo diver pageant and other activities. Even the locals watches through the windows and had a great time (this is also where my first pair of sandals went missing). Here we dived at sites like: Paradise 1& 2, Eel garden, Ray point, Sea Venture, Old house reef, and the island of Kapalai. Time went very quickly and it was time for some new sandals and to fly to Johor Bahru then on to Tioman island on the east coast of Malaysia but first a rest stop in Singapore.



When in we are in Singapore we have always tried to stay at the New 7th Story Hotel near Bugis underground station as it is very central, not too expensive and has the old world charm. Once a hotel where movie stars stayed it still has friendly and helpful staff, and is a nice place to stay a short time. We also met up with an old friend of Jorunn's and his wife. We were soon on the road again, we took the bus across the border to Jahor Bahru in Malaysia then another bus to Mersing (watch out for the monkeys along the roadside) and then by ferry to the island of Tioman. Once we found a room and settled in we went in search of B & J Divers, we had a warm friendly welcome, got our gear ready and were set for diving the next day. Tioman is a nice relaxing dive area (not as spectacular as Sipadan but nice) with lot's to see like: Loads of nudibranch, stonefish, batfish, ribbon eels, shrimps and crabs, turtles, crocodilefish and much more. We did a lot of fun diving and got to know the staff and some other divers, and we all met later in the bar or for dinner. When not diving we spent time on the beach (watch out for sand flies) and snorkelling, there were a fair bit of land animal to also like: very large monitor lizards, monkeys, and lots of birds. Some of the dive site we went to were: Chebeh island, Labas island, Renggis island, Fan Canyon, Tiger reef, Salang bay, some wrecks and more. But soon it was time to leave for yet another island after a stop on the mainland.

Pictures from Malaysia

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore - part 1

20.01.2004 - 07.02.2004
Thailand: Phuket, Khao Lak, Similan islands, Phi Phi island, Hat Yai
Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

It's time for quarterly retirement or at lest we will give it a shot and see how it goes. We started our first long trip by flying to Phuket where we took a taxi to Patong beach for a good night's sleep and to do some shopping for dive gear that we needed for the rest of the trip. As it turned out it was a bad choice, girlie bars with loud thumping music until the early hour was not what we needed after a very long fight, so in the morning we picked up the equipment we needed and took the bus north to Khao Lak.

In Khao Lak we were booked on a liveaboard with Sea Dragon, they also booked a room for us at a nice place with tall coconut trees, a good restaurant and not far from the centre of town. After a good sleep we started our diving at a shallow local reef with loads of nudibranch (small colourful snails) and lot's of other wonderful creatures. The next evening we were off for the liveaboard that was in a harbour an hours drive up the coast, the first night was at sea so we woke up to our first dive at 06:00 at Richelieu Rock where sadly the visibility was poor (plus the fact that with several other boats things got pretty crowded). After breakfast off we went again through the various dive sites in the Similan Islands, where every day was dive, breakfast, dive, lunch, dive, dinner, night dive, sleep and you it again for four days then back to shore to sleep. We also saw Manta for the first time, Jorunn jumped in the water for the dive, took a look under water, and shouted Manta!!! Everybody got into the water very quickly. Some of the places we stopped were: Richelieu Rock Koh Bon, Turtle ledge (Surin), Batfish rock, Gorgonian Valley, Three trees and many more.

We needed a few day rest after all the diving so we spent the days in the sun on the long white sandy beaches and evenings strolling around and eating good food very cheaply. Rest time was over and it was time to move along so we hopped into a minivan to Krabi pier where we took a fast ferry out to the beautiful Island of Phi Phi. We had been here before but there was a couple of dives we really wanted to do now that we had more experience under our belts and Phi Phi is really a great to chill out and get some diving in. This time we tried Island Diver (not recommended at all), where we first dived Bida Nia and Palong wall (south) where the diving was good and we saw two moray eels have a nasty fight and one was losing badly. A few days later we took off on a speed boat for a bumpy ride to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang (purple rock). After many equipment problems we finally hit the water. What an amazing site as this is two very large pinnacles a hundred meters from each other covered in purple soft coral that drops off to 45 plus meters to the sea floor. We went through a gap in Hin Muang to about 30 meters to look at a sleeping leopard shark when I looked behind me I saw a large number of fish (Cobia) swimming at me, along with our first WHALE SHARK, 3 to 5 meters long with a large mouth and lot's of spots. Whale sharks only eat plankton so are pretty harmless. The rest of the dive was pretty much a blur as there was so much to see and I was still getting over my first whale shark siting. Hin Daeng was just as spectacular as Hin Muang with breathtaking colours and creatures at every turn. All the fish, moary eels, nudibranch etc looked bigger here than at other dive sites. We wished we could stay longer, but it was time to head back to Phi Phi as we were off again the next day.

Back on land we took a minivan to Hat Yai where we spent the night before we took the overnight train to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived in KL early in the morning so started off a bit groggy but it did not take long to get sorted out and get to our hotel in the middle of the city. We spent the evening roaming the city and enjoying all the sites, smells and sounds of this beautiful city. At night we walked the city streets looking for good food and entertainment, all this was close at hand as we stayed close to Petaling street where there are places to eat and lot's of entertainment as this was the main street for shopping (knockoffs) and it was packed with people. We were looking forward to Sipadan, the "Mecca of diving".



Pictures from the Similans

Singapore, Indonesia

24.06.2003-21.07.2003

Singapore, Indonesia: Manado, Bunaken, Tangkoko National Park, Bangka island, Lembeh Straits



We are off to Asia again with the first stop in Singapore. As this is my first trip to Singapore we spent time going sightseeing to places like Raffles Hotel (founder of the Singapore sling), night safari (where we got to see what the animals do at night), Sentosa Island (man made beach area with lot's of activities), Chinatown and the aquarium. We also had dinnerout by the ocean where there were very little tourists with a friend of Jorunn's who lives and works in Singapore.

Off we fly to the city of Manado (a city in the far north of the Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia), a very busy city with winding roads through town to get to the harbour which is even busier with cargo ships and ferries to smaller islands. So many people, sights, sounds, and smells was amazing and so different but soon that was all behind as our boat took us to the small island of Bunaken where Froggies divers is located. As we got off we could clearly see the island of Bunaken but what we did not expect was the large extinct volcano rising out of the sea with it's beautiful green slopes which end near the blue waters.



We were met by Christiane, Tommy and the rest of the staff with warm smiles and we were soon in our room up in the trees overlooking the blue waters with Manado Tua in the background. The next day we were introduced to our dive guide Robert and boat crew, we were soon off to see what was underwater. What we found was fantastic huge walls going down to 1000 meters covered in coral with lot's of creatures at every turn, lucky for us we had Robert with us to help identify the things we saw as there were so many new things for us. There were many turtles, reef sharks, napoleanfish and schools of fish. We also saw our first mandarinfish !! We dived just about every day on fabulous dive sites like Likuan 1,2,3, Montehage, Mike's point,Tanjung Pisok and much more. We also dived the walls of Manado Tua that reach down thousands of meters to the ocean floor where rare ceatures live that have rarely been seen. Diving was very educational as at times the current was running very fast and you had to swim hard and use up air or hold on to the rocks, at times not at all, some up or down and even in different directions at different depths. We both had birthdays while we were there and we were surprised with cakes and the traditional flour in the hair (Oh joy, ha ha ha).




While staying at Bunaken we decided to go on a liveaboard to a strange place called the Lembeh straits and do something called muck diving. We departed for a four day adventure on The Clown, where there were several rooms with bunk beds, and after many hours at sea we had a dive at the mainland, and were soon off again to Tangkoko National Park where we had an evening in the jungle to visit the home of the tarsiers (world smallest monkey). It did not take long before we met monkeys but this was a family group and they were much larger. We eventually made it to the right place and were soon rewarded with three tarsiers crawling out for their evening search for food. After a time we were off and after a little while we arrived in Lembeh where we anchorded for the night with the buzz of anticipation of the diving to come.



In the past the water between the mainland of Sulawasi and the island of Lembeh was a very active volcanic area so the sand is black and when you dive this is what you will find. At first this is all we saw along with old trees, garbage and lot's of strange things. But then was it only garbage? Robert our dive showed us that things were not as they seem, by looking closely you see lots of creatures moving around, octopus in coconuts, fish in bottles, 100's of nudibranch, stonefish, wonderpus octopus, pygmy seahorses, ghostpipefish, frogfish and many more strange things. We spent four wonderful days making friends, eating good food and learning about muck diving. All good things come to an end so we slowly made our way back to Bunaken but first we stopped at Bangka for some more diving enjoying the uncrowded and rarely dive areas.

After a few more days diving it was time to head off to Singapore for some rest and relaxation before the long trip home and dreams of new adventures. Manado was an amazing place where we learned so many new things, met many new friends and saw things that we need to preserve for the future so that others can have this type of adventure too.




Pictures

Egypt: Marsa Alam, El Ghouna

15.04.2003-22.04.2003

Now for a really fun adventure even if was only for a week. We flew to Hurghada and went by car south for about 2 1/2 hour to a dive camp just north of Marsa Alam where we could dive as much as we wanted in the beautiful waters of the Red Sea. We stayed in a nice little hut overlooking the sea and the camp and it was only a short walk to the restaurant and the dive shop. Then we explored the local reef and got the feel for the area (had to use 10kg due to the thick wetsuit and high salinity). All meals were buffet and as we all ate together it was very social and interesting due to the number of different nationalities. Most of our dives were what we called truck dives as it was easier to drive there and very easy to get into the water. We also managed a night dive on the house reef which was a very easy dive and interesting too.


Another fantastic trip was to Dolphin House, we drove south past the city of Marsa Alam towards the Sudanese border and then half an hours boat ride to a U shaped reef where the dolphin swim inside for protection from the sea. It was truly fantastic swimming with about 20 to 30 wild dolphins, watch then interact, play and socialise with the rest of the group. After about 30 to 45 minutes we moved to the outer rim of the reef where we had a relaxing and beautiful dive. Our last day of diving we went by a small boat to the reef Elphinstone, even being seasick this was magic, 20 to 30 minutes boat ride from shore Elphinstone stands alone with beautiful coral, thousand of fish everywhere (Goldie's), and large fish, such as sharks, it just never ends. We hung out in the blue for a while watching a grey reef shark cruise around before we decided to explore the reef, it was sometimes hard to see the reef due to the amount of Goldie's but we managed to see lot's of creature's and had a great dive. The trip to shore was never ending as we both were very seasick at the time. (this is where we meet an English couple who told use about Froggies divers on Bunaken in Indonesia).
Then it was time to pack again for the long trip to Hurghada where spent the night in a not so Egyptian area (El Ghouna) that was only for tourists which really was not very nice and you really get the sound, smell and feel of Egypt.

Pictures: Pictures from Marsa Alam

Egypt: Sharm El Sheikh

14.12.2002 - 31.12.2003



Back to Sharm El Sheikh for Christmas and New Year but this time with Jorunn's brother and sister along for the trip to test the clear waters of the Red Sea. We decided to stay in Naama Bay at a small place called the Pigeon House owned by local bedouins who were friendly and very helpful. Jorunn and I once again chose to dive with Camel Dive while Jorunn's brother and sister hung around the beach snorkelling or just walking around. It was a bit cooler this time around so after two dives things were a bit chilled, but we went, to Wooodhouse, Gordon, Thomas, Ras Mohammed and a long list of local dive sites where we dived through the clear blue water with 20 meter visibility. We also took time to dive the wreck of the Dunraven, which was not as far away as the Thistlegorm, sad to say we did not find that this wreak was as impressive and was a bit cramped with 7 to 8 diver's go through it, but in all it was a good trip. We dived Ras Mohammed (Yolanda Reef) which is a fantastic dive especially when the current is running and the fish are there in numbers (let's not forget toilet town at the end of the dive where you find some containers with a car and lot's of toilets). (NOTE DO NOT sit on the toilets when you dive there as there are thing living in them).




Our evenings were spent roaming the town eating lot's of good food and also included several trips to the Camel Bar. With the help of the hotel staff we organised a camel trip into the desert with food and entertainment under the stars. Even if it cold out it was a beautiful evening with thousands of stars to gaze upon and wonder if anyone was looking back at us.
Jorunn's brother and sister left us after week so we spent New Year's eve in the Camel Bar and the rest of the week either diving or lying on the beach before we headed home.

Thailand and Malaysia

17.06.2002 - 15.07.2002

Thailand: Ao Nang, Hat Yai, Phi Phi islands, Krabi
Malaysia: Perhentians, Kota Bahru, Penang



Well we are off again this time to Thailand. We landed in Krabi and took a bus to Ao Nang, which was not very crowed as it was low season, Jorunn had been here before but this was my first trip to Thailand. For me everything was new, different and interesting so we stayed around Ao Nang on the beach and took day trip to some of the small islands (like Chicken island which looks like a chicken) to get usde to the heat. After a some time on the beach we hopped on a mini van and headed towards the Malaysian boarder to find new adventures, destination the Perhentians.



We overnighted in Hat Yai where to our surprise we found a good hotel and good food (dim sum). The next day we took a van to the border and a moped across the border, a taxi to Kota Bahru, the taxi to the speed boat and on to the Perhentians. This is where we really got into diving! The speed boat dropped us off in paradise, no cars, no crowds, just peace and quiet. We stayed at the Coral Bay resort a bit back from the water where the monkeys would come to visit in the afternoon and the sounds of the rain forest filled the air. We decided to dive with Watercolours which was close by and had lot's of friendly and helpful people. Our dive guide during our stay was Laurent who inspired us to see more, learn more and to just enjoy diving more. This is also where we were introduced to Nudibranches (small snails with beautiful colours and there are thousands of different types) and to much smaller creatures that you would miss if you did not know to look for them. We dived at sites like Tokung Laut, Terumbu Tiga, Tanjung Besi and many more. We also had a small beach with an amazing snorkelling area where we saw things like turtles, barracudas, humphead parrot fish, baby black-tip sharks and much more. After 10 days in paradise it was time to set off again. We took the bus from Kota Bahru to Penang were we stayed a few days in Georgetown at the classical Cathay Hotel, exploring the old city, temples, and the atmosphere and cultural blend in this area.




After a short stop in Hat Yai it was time to head for Phi Phi island. When we arrived we looked around for a place to stay and found one away from the bars and night club so we had a nice stay (yes we did go out to the bars). We dived with Phi Phi Scuba, which was ok but was pretty bad with gauges that did not work and a lot of things that needed repairs. Our dive guide took us to places like Bida Nai, Bida Nok and many more interesting dive sites. On Jorunn's Birthday we went to dive the King Cruiser wreck, it was quite choppy so we were both sea sick. But the diving was good, and we saw our first leopard shark. On Christer's first night dive he was a bit nervous but in the end things worked out and we surfaced to millions of stars looking down on us and it was amazing and will never be forgotten. Along with the diving we had lazy days on the beach, snorkelling trips and and walks so that could see more of the Island. Then it all came to an end and it was time to fly away and dream of our next adventure.

Greece: Crete (Chania, Paleohora)

23.03.2002 - 30.03.2002
On this trip we travelled with Jorunn's sister on a short Easter trip to Crete. We arrived early and decided to rent a car and drive to the other side of the island to get away from all the tourists. We were hoping that it be warm as it had been a cold winter but this was not to be for as we drove over the pass there was snow and it was not very warm at all. We stopped in a small village on the way and had an excellent lunch, then we continued on our way to Paleohora where we were staying.

We walked a bit and decided to stay at a family home that looked OK, sad to say this did not work out too well as that night there was storm and there were no window in the bath room so the rooms were cold and not too comfortable. Now to make things worse there was no hot water as they used solar heating! Time to move! We found a comfortable hotel nearby and relaxed on the beach for a while (still cold and windy) then explored the town where we spent our evenings eating, drinnking and playing backgammon. We drove a fair bit to see the south western side of the island before we drove back to Chania.